Lett and harry c



(No Model.)

G. F. HORSEY. ADJUSTABLE PAD FOR CLEANSING AND POLISHING TEETH.

No. 403,350. Patented May'l l, 1889.

N. PETERS, Phnwiilhugmpher, Washinglon, D. C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE F. HORSEY, OF UTICA, NET/V YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES L. BART-LETT AND HARRY C. ALLBRIGHT, BOTH OF SAME PLACE.

ADJUSTABLE PAD FOR CLEANSING AND POLISHING TEETH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 403,350, dated May 14,1889.

Application filed April 2 5, 1887. Serial No. 236,022. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. HORSEY, of Utica, in the county of Oneida,and in the State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Adjustable Pads and Holders for Cleansing and PolishingTeeth; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, andexact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 shows a perspective view of my holder withmy pad inserted and held therein; Fig. 2, a similar view of the holderwith the pad removed; Fig. 3, a detail perspective view of the pad; Fig.4, a sectional view of the pad and holder on line a: a: in Fig. 1; Fig.5, a detail perspective view showing a portion of a modified form of mypad, and Fig. 6 a transverse section of such modified pad.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of thefigures.

The object of my invention is to provide improved means for polishingand cleaning the teeth; and to this end my invention consists in thetooth cleansing and polishing pad, and in the holder therefor adaptedfor use and in combination with the pad, as hereinafter specified. 7

In my pending applications for United States Patent, Serial Nos. 214,238and 218,363, I have shown and described a removable tooth cleansing andpolishing rubber of felt, and a holder for such rubber adapted to clampand hold the same. The rubbing or polishing pad which I show, describe,and claim in the present application has its body also made of felt, butis constructed differently from and has certain advantageous featuresnot shown by the pad or rubber claimed in my said pending applications.Such material is preferred for the body of the pad, as being soft, fieX-ible, elastic, and agreeable to the touch.

I am aware that tooth=polishing brush es have heretofore been made ofother materials in place of bristles. I do not, therefore, claim hereinor intend to claim, broadly, a tooth cleaning and polishing pad made ofother ma terial than bristles; nor dolclaim in this ap plication,broadly, a pad made of felt.

In the drawings of this present application, A designates the handle ofthe holder, which is substantially like that shown in one of my previousapplications referred to above. For receiving and holding the removablepad or 7 rubber B, this handle is provided with the loop A, preferablyof metal, and connected with the handle proper by means of the tang C.Such tang is split at c, as shown in the drawings, and the two parts ofit tend nor- I mally to spring apart, as shown in Fig. 2. Each half ofthe tang forms a continuation of one side of the holder-loop. Upon thetang is the sliding ring, adapted to force and hold the two parts of thetang together when it is pushed out into the position shown in Fig. 1.To increase the action of the ring in forcing the tang partstogethensuch parts near the holding-loop can be made with a slight swellor flare on their outer sides.

With the two parts of the tang forming, as described and shown,continuations of the two sides of the holder-loop A, theforcing andholding of such parts together by means of the ring will contract thewidth of the loop 4 and hold it contracted, so that the sides of theloop will then clamp firmly a piece which could easily be insertedbetween them before such contracting.

The loop is preferably provided at its ends and along its sides with anentwined fiange' o or rib, a, at its back. From such rib the sides andends of the-holder incline some what inward, as shown best in Fig. 4.This construction affords a concave or channel around the inner side ofthe loop to grasp and hold the back or upper portion of the pad orrubber B, and the flange a furnishes a support engaging the back orupper side of the pad to support the latter against upward pressure. I

The polishing and cleansing part of the pad, rubber, or piece B is, asalready indicated hereinbefore, nade of felt. I do not intend to limitmyself to any particular kind of feltfor this purpose. It can be made ofany fiber or material, whether wool, vegeta ble, or mineral.

Whatever fiber is used for the felting it should be of such nature thatthe resultant pad will be soft, flexible, elastic, and porous 10o orabsorbent.

Instead of felting, I contemplate using, if

desired, a block or pad of some fibrous material, compacted and heldtogether in any suitable way. Of whatever material the pad is made it isdesirable to corrugate the rubhing-surface, as shown in the drawings.

To stiffen the pad or rubber and afford a good hold thereon for theclamping-loop A, I fasten to its outer or upper side the back 15',preferably made of water proof card board or paper. I do not, however,limit myself to the use of such material for this back. Any materialsuchas rubber, wood, or other substance capable of forming a stiffeninglayer on the back of the pad-can be used.

In practice I connect the water-proof cardboard to the piece of felt bymeans of cement or by gutta-pcrcha.

\Vhen the completed pad is sprung in between the open sides of the loopA and such sides are forced in toward each other again by ring D, thestiffening-back B is around its edges engaged by and held firmly in theconcave or channel around the inner side of the loop, as shown best inFig. i. The holder gets then a much firmer hold on the pad than waspossible where, as described and shown in my other applications referredto, the pad had no back and the holder merely clamped the felt itself.

In cutting out the pieces of felt to form the pad I have found that itis necessary to cut them in a particular way. If the pieces were cutfrom a sheet of felt, so that the top sun face of the felt would be therubbing-surface, and such top were corrugated, as the rubbing face ofthe pad is shown in the drawings, the fibers on the corrugated facewouldcome off freely when the pad was used, as the felted fibers are toa certain extent in layers that is, the fibers as deposited at differenttimes in making up the felt lie substantially in parallel planes andthose above are locked with the ones below only by the interlocking ofthe small barbs or spurs on the fibers themselves.

IVhile there may be no well-defined layers in the felt, it can be.properly said that the fibers lie substantially either in the same orparallel planes, and these planes are parallel to the upper and lowerfaces of the sheet of felt. If, then, it be attempted to corrugate theupper or lower surface of a piece of felt, the grooves cut in making thecorrugations will cut down through the fibers or layers of fibers, so asto leave the ribs of the corrugations formed of short pieces of fibersonly held down in place by the interlocking of the barbs on the fibers,as no fibers run down through a sheet of felt.

To provide a pad of felt in which the fibers will be firm and not comeloose, I cut the pads from a sheet of felt, so that the corrugatedsurface will be in a plane at right angles to the upper and lower sidesof the sheet. To save material, I do this with a V- shaped knife, which,reciprocated at right angles to the sheet of felt, cuts out at the sametime the corrugated faces for two pads. With the pads so made, as willbe plain to one familiar with felt-manufacture, fibers will runsubstantially at right angles to the rubbingface of the pad, as roughlyindicated in Fig. 4, and in the ribs of the corrugations there are nofibers which are not interlocked with and held in place by such otherfibers. There are then no loose fibers or broken layers of fibers on theface of the pad, and no fibers will come loose in the month during theuse of the pad.

The cement or heated guttapercha which is used to attach the feltportion of the pad to its back fastens the outer ends of the fibersrunning to the side of the pad opposite to its rubbing-surface firmly tosuch back. I contemplate also, instead of having the stiffening-backmade separate and attached to the pad, forming a stiffening back orportion on the pad by dipping the same in or treating it with somepreparation adapted to form the outer or back portion of the pad into astill firm layer adapted to be grasped by the holder, as is thepaperback shown and described hereinbefore.

I do not limit myself to a corrugated rubbing-surface on the pad.

I do not claim herein the form of holder shown and described, as suchholder is covered by the claims in my pending application, Serial No.218,363; nor do I claim herein, broadly, a corrugated felt pad, as sucha pad is broadly claimed in my pending applica tion, No. 214,238.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In combinationwith the piece of felt having the roughened face at right angles to theplanes in which its fibers run, the stiffening-back cemented to the sideof the piece opposite to the roughened face, substantially as and forthe purpose described.

2. A polishing or cleansing pad consisting of a block of felt having itsrubbing-face at right angles to the planes in which the fibers of thefelt run corrugated transversely, and a layer of stiff material attachedto the side of the felt block opposite to the rubbing-face by means ofcement, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I. have hereunto set my handthis 14th day of April, 1887.

GEORGE F. IIORSEY.

Vitnesses:

W. P. CARPENTER, FRANK H. CLARK.

